Review by Eeviee

When I first saw the images from the Major Arcana on
the Witches Tarot website, I thought I would really
love this deck! The deck is nice overall, but certainly
did not meet or exceed my expectations. Perhaps my
expectations were too high, expecting much more Wiccan/Pagan
insights... Once I got through the Companion Book, however, I
was able to appreciate the deck for what it was,
rather than what I hoped it to be.

The way the deck was
advertised and marketed made me think it would deviate much
more from the RWS tradition than it has. I thought it
would be much more 'witchy' and have many more modes of
symbolism not usually found amongst RWS-based decks. The
claim that it has "instantly recognizable Pagan symbols"
is a bit much, however, as most of the symbols aren't
particularly Pagan. As far as the Pagan symbolism goes, Dugan &
Evans pay much more attention to the plants and
sometimes animal 'companions' throughout the deck. The
flowers, plants, and trees are more diverse than the RWS
standard of lilies and roses and generic non-specific
forestry. Dugan has thoughtfully chosen which
plants/herbs/flowers and stones to symbolize or emphasize each cards
meanings. In some cards Dugan and Evans use
animals/birds/mythical creatures that may deviate or be an addition to
the RWS-norm. These, too, are added based on Pagan
teachings.

The most obvious deviation from the RWS comes from her
renaming of the Major Arcana: V – The Hierophant has been
named The High Priest (which in some Marseille-style
decks, it was previously called), X- The Wheel of Fortune
becomes The Wheel of the Year, XV – The Devil is renamed
The Shadow Side, and XX – Judgment is called Karma.
The High Priest/Hierophant isn’t really that much of a
stretch and I tend to define the Hierophant as such,
personally. The Wheel of Fortune/the Year is kind of a common
stretch in meaning, as Fortune tends to indicate chance or
luck, while the Year is cyclical and predictable. -I’m
not quite so sure about this re-naming, however
popular it is within Pagan themed decks. The Devil/Shadow
Side I find to be a particularly effective re-naming,
as the Devil is a purely Christian symbol, and
certainly confusing and sometimes scary to Querants. I am
also fond of Dugan’s adjustment to Judgement to Karma, as
they are both very similar in meaning, and Judgement has
a bit of a patriarchal and Christian undertone to
me. Dugan has mentioned an article on Llewellyn
('Every Card Tells a Story: The Story Behind the Cards for
Witches Tarot' by Ellen Dugan) that XIX - The Sun portrays
her son Kraig as a child.

The Cups suit has some
featuring of mermaids. Though, not the Undines of the
Element of Water. Any mermaid depicted is a beautiful
woman, once top-naked but done tastefully. No
"non-pretty" mermaids or mermen, however, make an appearance.
Dugan includes seashells on her silver chalices, and
they come up as decorations throughout the suit.
Dolphins appear in the 8 of Cups and the King of Cups;
Starfish appear in the 8 of Cups; in the Page a Fish
appears out of her chalice. Pretty much every character in
the suit is wearing blue, and most cards depict a
scene with some kind of water; ponds, rivers, lakes,
waterfalls, and the ocean provide backdrops for the suit. In
the article 'Every Card Tells a Story...' Dugan
mentions that her husband is the man appearing in the King
of Cups, and that the Knight of Cups is her son
Kraig. She also states that the 3 and 9 of Cups feature
members of her coven, and that her children Kyle and Erin
appear in the 6 of Cups in their youngster days.

The
Swords suit shows faeries amongst the scenes in the 2, 3,
5 and Queen of Cups. The faeries aren't detailed or
striking and are probably the most un-realistic aspects of
the deck. Also, they are all done in monochrome, a
single colour with various shades that are usually bright
and glowing. These faeries aren't quite the Sylphs of
the Element of Air. The birds appearing in this suit
are what ties it together. The Ace, Page, Knight and
King features hawks; the 4 and 7 of Cups utilizes
peacock feathers; the 5 and 6 features dragonflies; the 10
of Cups shows a perched owl; and the Queen has
songbirds built into her throne, and blue-jays surrounding
her. The backgrounds in the suit of Swords usually have
mountains or hills, and occasionally barren fields.
Mountains tend to represent the Element of Air, just think
of it's Alchemical symbol! The 5 of Swords is one of
the biggest deviations from RWS Tradition found in The
Witches Tarot; 5 Swords levitate, fanned out, pointing to
a dragonfly, as faeries flit about. In the article
'Every Card Tells a Story...' Dugan states that the
Knight of Swords features her son Kyle, and that the
Queen of Swords is her daughter Erin.

Dugan's Wands
are all made the same "a blooming branch of hawthorn
adorned with red ribbons" (p. 170 of Dugan's Witches Tarot
Companion). She tells us that she chose the tree because it is
associated with the Element of Fire, but then adds that it is
also associated with faeries (of the Air/Swords suit).
Perhaps she had to add the red ribbon in to remind herself
and her customers that the suit of Wands is indeed
representative of the Element of Fire; as the Wands = Fire/Swords
= Air association in the RWS Tradition differs from
most magickal traditions. As far as mythological
creatures go, a few Dragons are featured (which some would
associate with the Element of Spirit/Ether) but no
Salamanders, the usual associated creature with the Element of
Fire. The dragons appear most notably in the 5 of Wands
where there is one dragon to represent each of the 5
Elements (Blue for Water, Green for Earth, Gold for Air,
Red for Fire, and Purple for Spirit). The other
dragons appear as designs on the 6, 9, 10, Knight, and
King of Wands. In addition to the dragons, Dugan
utilizes mostly golden/orange cats (see: 2, 4, Page, Queen,
and King of Wands), which she associates with Fire.
Everyone in the suit of Wands are dressed in red and gold.
Note that the 6 of Wands could easily be mistaken for
the Knight of Wands, as they are both males riding
valiantly on horseback. For the suit of Fire, the
backgrounds surprisingly have a lot of greenery in them. In
Dugan's article 'Every Card Tells a Story...', she
references a nephew that could be the Page of Wands.

In the
suit of Pentacles, all but one card (3 of Pentacles)
are done in Gold. This particularly irks me, as per
most Pagan and Wiccan traditions, the Pentacle is
pretty much always Silver, as Silver is associated with
the Goddess; who rules over Earth and the Moon, and
the Elements of Water and Earth. Gold is symbolic of
the God; who is represented by the Sun, and who rules
over the Elements of Air and Fire. While this is usual
as per Tarot tradition, I was surprised and
disappointed that Dugan followed suit here. It should be noted
that these golden Pentacles are traditionally meant to
represent the monetary aspect of the suit. No gnomes or
other mythological creatures make their presence known
in this Suit, which is strange considering every
other suit contains them. Instead, Dugan uses a variety
of animal companions (perhaps this is commentary on
the Earth being the home to a variety of creatures); a
cat in the 3 of Pentacles, a raven in the 8 of
Pentacles, a falcon in the 9 of Pentacles, a different dog is
featured in both the 10 and Queen, the Page features a
white hind (female deer), and the Knight features a
stag. The scenes depicted in the suit of Pentacles is
the most diverse in the Minors, where some scenes are
depicted with lush greenery, others are indoors or feature
architecture. The 5 of Pentacles varies again from RWS
Tradition; a dead tree, dangling with golden Pentacles,
stands amongst a barren winter scene. The winter scene is
appropriate (and traditional), as the suit of Pentacles and
the Element of Earth is associated with the season of
Winter. Yet, in the suit of Cups, there is no
representation of Autumn. Spring and Summer can be overlooked,
due to their usual similarity (and Dugan's abundance
of greenery and flowers throughout the deck). Why
include ¾ Seasons and not the fourth? Finally, what must
be noted is that Dugan includes herself in the 9 of
Pentacles. For me, this was unheard of; now I've been
enlightened by other Tarot enthusiasts to see that this is not
such a rare happenstance. For readers of Dugan's books,
this may be distracting (or not). The photo used for
her face appears on the backs/"About the Author"
sections of her books. The description for her personal
card reads: "happy, confident and self-sufficient [...]
Her powers are enhanced [...] a quiet nod to her
success and prosperity" (p. 240 Dugan's Witches Tarot
Companion).

A lot of the imagery is done via computer and with
photo manipulation/CGI. I personally like and appreciate
that style of art work. Mark Evans produced some
gorgeous art here. There are some characters and cards that
are portrayed wonderfully, the majority of the Major
Arcana is to be noted! The thing that this deck really
lacks is consistency; which might not bother some. Some
elements of the cards are done very cartoon-like, while
other aspects are non-edited photos. I might have liked
the deck a lot more had Evans picked a style for
portraying the characters and stuck with it throughout the
entire deck. Evans could have even just stuck with one
mode of characterization per card, and even that would
have been better artistically (though it would probably
still bother me).

For instance, most of the Major
Arcana are done almost entirely in a cartoon-like style.
Beautifully executed, and easily relatable. Then we get to VI
- The Lovers and while the couple is cartoon-like
the Angel is pure photo. Since the Angel is an
apparition/transparent, it's not that big of a deal. The Major Arcana goes
on, until we hit XXI - The World where the Man is a
poorly manipulated photo, alongside the pure photos of
the traditional animals representing the
Elements/Suits. Then we have a CGI Green Man stuck in the center,
surrounded by photos! The lack of consistency in the artwork
unfortunately goes up much more in the Minor Arcana. The best
example appears in the 10 of Pentacles where we see a
completely collaged scene. The dog is purely edited and
cartoonized, the grandfather and grandchild wear photographic
faces onto CGI bodies, and the background of the couple
and house is purely photographic. I find this to be
yet another deck where the Majors outshine the Minors
drastically. Again, my expectations were rather high due to
knowing Evans' has worked with such companies as Marvel,
Disney, Sony, Electronic Arts (EA), Star Wars, Star Trek,
A Game of Thrones, World of Warcraft, among many
others.

On a more positive note, my favourite thing about
this deck are the backs! The center is the Pagan/Wiccan
symbol for the Triple Goddess (Maiden, Mother, and
Crone); the Waxing, Full, and Waning Moons. The Moons are
a true picture of our Moon, and are suspended in a
starry sky. Its only downfall is that they are not made
to be reversible; which, again, may not bother some.
The top half of the card has a pink/purple/fuchsia
glow (perhaps a nod to the Feminine?), and the bottoms
are decorated with blue/cyan/mauve (perhaps a nod to
the Masculine?). I find these to be truly wonderful
backs. -Perhaps one of the best Tarot Card backs I've
seen!

The packaging is the standard for a Llewellyn
production. There is the decorative outer box, which contains
the companion book, and a white poster-board
box/divider. The 78 cards come wrapped in cellophane, and
usually come underneath or sitting on-top of the white
poster-board box. That awkward white box is what Llewellyn
provides to store the cards in, though it is not snug (the
cards will bounce around!), decorated, or durable.

The
cardstock is not exceptionally durable and is prone to
‘chipping’ at the edges; the usual Llewellyn quality. The
cards are not glossy or matte, but a rather medium
finish. They are not especially slippery, and I find them
very easy to shuffle. They almost glide amongst one and
other. The borders are minimal and black. Atop the base
of the border sits the card titles in a rather nice
and unique font, using all capitals for the titles in
white.

Dugan's Witches Tarot Companion book is mostly standard
companion book fare, though there are some exciting
exceptions. Under the section titled 'Introduction' includes
Dugan's personal experience with Tarot, quick information
on general Tarot practices, and includes some advice
for reading for yourself and others.
In the section
titled 'The Major Arcana' Dugan provides a quick
introduction to the Majors, before launching into descriptions
of each individual card of the Majors. She writes out
the imagery of the card, interprets its meaning, and
then provides upright keywords, deity and astrological
associations, and reversed keywords. Dugan's inclusion of the
Deity Associations is the only stand-out aspect of this
portion of the book.
In the section titled 'The Minor
Arcana', she provides another quicky intro, and some basic
information on the meanings of each suit before launching into
the descriptions. Like the Majors, she includes
imagery of the card, interprets its meaning, and then
provides upright keywords and reversed keywords. There are
no Deity and Astrological Associations provided for
the Minors. For the Courts, however, Dugan does
include some brief information on the Elements. With the
exception of the Pages, she includes Zodiac Associations.
What I found most unique about this section was Dugan's
inclusion of a message from the Pages, a challenge from the
Knights, another message from Queens, and a lesson from the
Kings.
In the 'Tarot Spreads' section, she gives some basic
introductory information, and some info on one and three card
spreads. Dugan provides some information on Significators,
which some companion books are lacking. She gives the
reader 3 Pagan/Wiccan friendly spreads: The Triple
Goddess Spread, The Four Elements Spread, and The Wheel of
the Year Spread.
The section titled 'Magick with the
Witches Tarot Deck' is the most outstanding amongst other
companion books. Here, Dugan speaks on Tarot Meditation and
provides some Mantras. She then gives several cards
pertaining to spells that can be used to "Enhance Tarot or
Magickal Studies", "Create a Strong, United Coven or
Circle", and some for more basic needs; Abundance,
Protection, Romance, Broken Hearts and Hearth & Home.
The
Appendixes include useful information: 'Minor Arcana Number
and Court Card Meanings' and 'Symbols in Tarot Cards'.
The latter is a notable exception to most companion
books, that I feel EVERY companion book should include!
Here, Dugan gives information on some common symbols and
most found in The Witches Tarot.

Originally, I was
rather disappointed with the Witches Tarot Companion as
she is a rather well known author of witchcraft, and I
thought she would have much more to offer to the world of
Tarot. What I noticed was that my expectations were much
too high, and upon fully reading the Companion book I
can now appreciate what Dugan has done here is done
quite well. Both the deck and book alike place a special
emphasis on herbal, stone and animal/creature
correspondences. As "The Garden Witch", her emphasis is much more
on the Natural Craft of Witchery; for whatever reason
my expectations lead me to believe/desire a more
esoteric approach like that which can be found in The
Wizards Tarot By Corrine Kenner and John J. Blumen.
Together, these two decks make a more complete view of
Witchcraft and Paganism (from my perspective).

Overall,
while it wasn't what I had expected or desired, I can
appreciate this deck very much for what it is and what it
does have to offer. For those looking for something a
little witchy or Pagan, this may be an option for you. I
don't find that it is particularly well-resembling of
either group as a whole, but rather leans towards the
Natural aspects of the Craft. For the most part, the cards
are attractive, and contain the standard
RWS-symbolism. I personally think that the deck is much more
suited to a novice Tarot reader, as it offers nothing new
or spectacular for an advanced student of Tarot. For
those who are Witches, Wiccans, or Pagans; I think that
regardless of your Tarot experience it would be a lovely
addition to your tarot collection.